Source: EconLog
by Marcos Falcone
“Economic crises pervade the history of Argentina, though the main characters in these stories sometimes change. In the last few decades, however, there is one actor that stands out over others: the International Monetary Fund, which only a few days ago disbursed a fresh 5.4 billion dollars to the Argentine government. So why is the IMF a recurring character in this story? Why is it that economic crises strike Argentina again and again if the IMF is supposedly always trying to avoid them? … the IMF keeps reaching agreements with fiscally irresponsible governments and, time after time, also relaxes their conditions with the result that their goals are never achieved. In this way, government deficits are prolonged over time; Argentina never escapes its permanent fiscal crisis and the IMF ends up becoming the best ally that the spendthrift left can have to preserve the status quo.” (05/08/23)